Legacy of Evil
by Kingpin1055
Summary: Crossover of Ghostbusters and Resident Evil, The Ghostbusters visit a familliar town where Umbrella have unleashed their evil. Well guys, I finally got out of my spell of laziness and finished uploading the chapters, enjoy! :)
1. The Journey to town

Chapter One  
  
The view outside the windows wasn't very awe inspiring, mostly shadow against a backdrop of a nearly finished sunset and a few visable pine trees here and there.  
  
"So why are we going there again if we haven't been able to phone them for a week since they made the appointment?" Peter complained from his position in the back seat.  
  
"Because it's possible the ghost is responcible for the lack of communication." Egon announced while working on a new piece of equipment in the back of the car.  
  
"Besides, how often do we get to do a bust in a nice mid-western town anyway? Most of the time we're either in New York or in the open countryside where there's no-one around." Ray couldn't help contain his excitement at trying out Egon's latest idea in a woodland environment they haven't had much experience in.  
  
"Well, they'd better be gratefull that we're taking such a long trip during our heavy season to do this for them." Peter always hated the summer/autumn time of year as the weather got worse and so did the ghosts.  
  
"So what's the story again?" Peter peered through the glass at the ouside world. All that was visable now was what was lit by Ecto's headlights.  
  
"We had gotten a few calls from frightened citizens, they were talking about monsters that had been seen in the outskirts of the city and the nearby woods. So we decided to investigate. It also allows Egon to test his new idea in the close confines of small town streets and the woods."  
  
"Well at least they had the decency to recommend their best hotel, what's it called?"  
  
"It's a wonder you remember anything Peter, it's called the Arklay Inn."  
  
The Ecto sped along the empty highway towards it's destination. A blue highway sign lit up in Ecto's headlights to alert the driver that they were only 10 miles from their destination.  
  
***  
  
They'd found him, he didn't know how. But he had to get to shelter before they caught up with him. He spotted a glowing neon sign just up the road. It announced that it was "The Arklay Inn." He sprinted towards it, dropping his empty shotgun as he ran. There were a couple of cars parked in the parking lot outside the hotel and it appeared to be normal, however one thing Paul Radcliff had learnt was that nothing always appeared as it seemed. He had nearly made it to the hotel's entrance foyer when it came out of the shadows.  
  
"No, get away from me you freak! No....NOOOOOOO!!!!!!"  
  
Paul's lifeless body was dragged away into the shadows where the creature could consume it in peace. It's only instinct was to feed, it was lucky enough to have the small portion of intelligence to know where to find food. Soon Paul would be joining it in it's quest to end it's hunger, but it would never know that it's companion was even there. together they shuffled off into the darkness, searching for food to end their neverending hunger. 


	2. The Arklay Inn

Chapter Two  
  
The white Cadillac pulled off the offramp and started it's short journey towards the hotel. The Ghostbusters inside the car started to get ready to unload their equipment and small amount of luggage.  
  
"Okay guys we're on the last stretch of the trip, let's get the equipment ready first, then the luggage." Winston said from behind the wheel. The hotel finally came into view, even though it was night they could make out clearly most of the four storey building due to the floodlights illuminating the hotel's old fashioned exterior. No wonder it was named the "Arklay Inn." Winston eased the car into the hotel's parking lot and turned off the engine. Peter, who had been dozing on the rear seat, stretched cat-like and switched on the cabin light.  
  
"Ow!" he muttered as he became used to the bright light and started to move some of the luggage. Getting out of Ecto he noticed how quiet the place was, nowhere on Manhattan would be this quiet.  
  
"This place is dead, it has no nightlife!"  
  
"What do you expect? it's not a city like New York, and we're on the outskirts." Ray looked around and noted how even with the bright street lights and the floodlights of the hotel, large areas were still covered in shadows.  
  
The entrance foyer was as old fashioned as the exterior, fake brass oil lamps hung from the walls and flagged the double doors to the bar. The main reception desk even had a old fashioned cash register and bell. Peter rang the bell twice before noticing a small note in a picture frame next to the bell.  
  
"All guests checking in after 10.00PM please sign in at the register and pickup your key from the hook."  
  
One of the things peter did know was the room number. He picked up the key for their room number and walked back towards his partners.  
  
"looks like we're on the fourth floor. We'll load the equipment into the lift first and then into our room, followed by the luggage from the car. Peter for some reason smiled and went over and pushed the button to call the lift.  
  
"I said that first in the car, he has the ability to repeat what we say but never seems to take part in the actual work." Winston muttered in annoyance. Ray peered into the bar, it was styled to look like a saloon bar but with modern technology like the juke box next to the fireplace and electric ceiling lights styled as cart wheels. The stacked chairs and bottleless bar announced the bar was closed. The elevator sounded it's arrivial with a soft, metallic "Ping."  
  
***  
  
The hotel room was modest, if modest were a five star hotel. Apart from four large beds there are plenty of arm chairs, footstools and even a Television to entertain and relax the occupants, and this is all lit by the soft glow of fake gas-light. Having spent nearly ten minutes sorting out the equipment and luggage the Ghostbusters have settled down for a rest. Ray is in one of the arm chairs reading a Captain Steel comic, Peter is starting to doze again on one of the beds, Winston is out on the small balcony supplied with the room and Egon is spralled out on the floor, adding the finishing touches to some modifications to the PKE meters to compensate for the distortions caused by the woods. Finishing his labors, he gets up and calls a meeting.  
  
"Alright, let's discuss the plan for tomorrow." Winston walks back into the hotel room as Peter moans "oh no."  
  
"We have been given reports that monsters or ghosts have been spotted in the following areas of town, the Police Department, the St. Michael Clock Tower and not surprisingly, the local cemetery in the park. We have also received sone reports of odd occurances in the woods bordering town. So we'll be investigating those in order of how recent the sightings were."  
  
"Now that the speech is done Spengs, will you kindly shut up! I'm trying to sleep here." Venkman continued to moan from the bed.  
  
"Don't worry Peter, you'll get all the sleep you'll need when I lock you in the janitor's closet across the hall. Goodnight gentlemen, we'll be needing as much rest as we can get." Ray and Egon went over to their respective beds and soon fell asleep. However Winston was the last to get to bed as he looked out towards the lights in the valley below.  
  
"(What could be terrorizing this town? From some of the reports they'd received it sounds like something pretty nasty. Oh well, I'm not gonna find out by just standing here.)" Winston then walked back in closing the balcony window behind him. Switching off the light one final thought passed through his mind before the darkness of sleep welcomed him.  
"Welcome to Raccoon City." 


	3. Welcome to Raccoon City

Chapter Three  
  
The next morning the Ghostbusters stepped out of the hotel's entrance as they noticed details that were covered in shadows the previous night. The smell of pine was in the air as a light breeze drifted down the mountains into the valley that sheltered Raccoon City. The sounds of crows nearby filled the air as they scattered from the perches in the nearby trees.  
  
"Alright, first stop is the Raccoon Police Department." Winston started up Ecto's engine, he was a little concerned as it coughed into life.  
  
"Hmm."  
  
"Somehing wrong Winston?" Ray asked from the driver's seat.  
  
"I don't like the sound Ecto's engine is making, I think I better take her into a garage while we're here to see what's wrong."  
  
"Good idea, we don't want to get stranded here because this place is pretty isolated." Winston pulled Ecto out of the hotel's parking lot and started the journey down into town ,passed a large colourful billboard announcing "Welcome to Raccoon City!" as they did.  
  
***  
  
Ray now had a map out as they navigated the streets of Raccoon City, it was a nice looking town, old fashioned style buildings, wide streets with plenty of trees, several parks and even it's own Zoo.  
  
"The Police Department is on Ennerdale Street, thats just off Ema Street which we're on." The Ecto pulled along the street until a couple of squad cars and a large stone building with a clock tower came into view. Winston pulled the large car into a parking space that was just big enough for the car next to a book shop across the street from the RPD.  
  
"According to the guide, the building was first built as Town Hall of Raccoon in 1900, but the newer City Hall was built behind when the town received city status in 1955. Shortly after the defunct Town Hall became a library and then in 1969 it became the main branch of Raccoon Police."  
  
"Seems kinda oppressive to me." Winston looked at the large stone building as they walked through the courtyard in front.  
  
"I know what you mean, it seems to lack a certain lived-in feeling that buildings normally have after at least a few decades of use." Ray managed to spare a moment from delving deeper into Raccoon City history. They all shuddered as they entered the main hall of the RPD.  
  
"Wow, is it me or did it get colder in here?" Peter was surprised when he saw a small cloud of condensation rise from his mouth.  
  
"It's probably the marble in here." Ray tried to hold the guide steady so he could read more about the building.  
  
"Are you the Ghostbusters?" The ghostbusters turned to see a equally cold looking RPD officer standing in front of them.  
  
"Whatever we're being accused of, we didn't do it." Peter's statement gained him a "is this guy crazy?" look from the Police Officer.  
  
"Mr. Irons apologises that he can't meet you, but he sends his regards. I'm John Spencer, I'm going to be your guide during your stay here in Raccoon."  
  
"yes, we were called here by some citizens and a member of your Police Department about some sightings of weird creatures."  
  
"That's correct, we had an.."incident" a few months back, people were killed and the "incident" was blamed on drug abuse, but a few of my fellow officers and myself see differently." The Ghostbusters started following the officer as he walked into some offices in the Western wing of the building.  
  
"One of the calls we received was from a man in a special ops team called Chris Redfield. Do you know him?" Ray asked the officer.  
  
"We've only met a few times but from my opinion he didn't seem the type to get involved in drug abuse." The officer frowned at the dissapearance of Chris and the survivors from S.T.A.R.S. after the mission in Raccoon Forest.  
  
"Could you please tell us about this "incident" that happened which involved Mr. Redfield?"  
  
"I will, though my superiors didn't believe it, so I won't be suprised if you don't." The Officer Spencer sat down in an old desk chair.  
  
"We've dealt with some very unbelievable stuff in our time, please continue."  
  
"Well, two months ago bizare attacks started to happen, people from town would be out walking or meeting friends and then simply wouldn't turn up again. Sometimes days later they would be found, or what was left of them anyway. The corpses were always found partially eaten. Then the S.T.A.R.S. were sent in to deal with the "canibal killers". First Bravo team, that's the second team in the Raccoon S.T.A.R.S. devision, was sent into the woods to the North of town to the abandoned Spencer Estate. Main HQ lost contact with Bravo Team and so Alpha team was sent in, Chris was a member of Alpha Team. When their helicopter returned the next morning all but five members had been killed. The survivors had given stories about inhuman mosters and "zombies" when they had entered the estate, but unfortunantly the place burnt down shortly after they got out so there wasn't any evidence to prove their story. They said that the "zombies" and the monsters had been created by Umbrella Inc, people didn't want to belive that the largest company in Raccoon was behind something so terrible and so S.T.A.R.S. were discredited and shut down. Now we've had to employ new officers to take over the caseloads that S.T.A.R.S. used to handle."  
  
"Wow, real zombies, I can't wait to examine them!" Peter turned a worried expression towards Ray.  
  
"Ray the EAT human flesh!"  
  
"It's still an exciting development, imagine if we were able to get rid of them like ghosts. after all they're dead, and that falls in our jurisdiction."  
  
"Great, he'll get himself eaten by zombies before he conciders consequences? That's Ray Stantz for you."  
  
***  
  
"Well we've checked all of the building and we've found nothing on the PKE meter." Egon noted.  
  
"Looks like this place is clean, should we go to the clocktower next?" Ray looked up from the readout on his PKE meter. The Ghostbusters walked back to the Ecto-1.  
  
"Actually Ray, I'd like to check-out the woods." Winston turned the key in the ignition and received a nasty metallic grinding noise.  
  
"Uh-oh." Winston muttered.  
  
"Officer Spencer, would you know where the nearest garage is?" Ray turned towards the Officer.  
  
"Apart from the RPD garage theres one across the street from the cablecar station."  
  
***  
  
"Great a busted crank shaft." Winston mutterd as he leaned against the wall of the Stagla gas station. The oily mechanic slid out from under the car and got up.  
  
"Unfortunantly it's a 1959 Cadillac, those parts are hard to come by these days. However I know a guy up at the scrap yard who has another '59 caddy which has the crankshaft still attached. But it'll take at least a couple of hours to fix it."  
  
"At least that seems reasonable, would you know the quickest way to the Raccoon Forest?" The mechanic gave a short surprised look at the Ghostbusters.  
  
"The WOODS?! um..yes..you should go to the cablecar station across the street, take the cablecar along the Central-Raccoon Line up to Raccoon station, then take another cablecar along the Raccoon-Arklay Line to get to Cider district, once you get to Victory Lake you'll be able to see the woods on the opposite side of the lake."  
  
"Thanks. What time will Ecto be ready?"  
  
"Ecto?"  
  
"The car."  
  
"Oh, it will be ready by six 'o' clock."  
  
"Right, thanks, I'll pick it up then." 


	4. The darkness of Raccoon Forest

Chapter Four  
  
Nothing had happened. Peter was wondering why he was there. They'd taken up a case on a day that was otherwise case free, to travel more than one-hundred miles to a town in the middle of nowhere to end up wandering the empty woods for the morning. He wondered how his life had become so boring.  
  
"So how come we haven't got anything so far?"  
  
"I don't know Peter, it's possible that there's something in the region that we haven't accounted for..."  
  
"Or it's that there's nothing to find."  
  
"We're not making any progress here, howabout we break for lunch and meet at the Police Department at 1:00PM where we can investigate some of the buildings in town that we've recieved reports about possible spiritual infestation."  
  
"Agreed, comeon Winston, let's go find a bite to eat while we let the mad scientists work on their equipment."  
  
"Um, Okay Peter, you guys watch yourselves, something about these woods doesn't seem right."  
  
"Officer Spencer, do you recommend a place to eat?" Peter asked the nervous looking officer.  
  
"Um, Emmy's Diner is quite popular. Just take the cablecar back to the central station. Then take the Midtown bus down Davies street and you can't miss it."  
  
"Thanks Officer, come-on Winston, let's get there before the lunchtime rush." Peter and Winston then dissapeared off towards Raccoon.  
  
"Does he always act like that?" Officer Spencer asked Egon.  
  
"Most of the time."  
  
***  
  
"you know, that's the reason you're always up so late, you drink too much coffee." Peter sat opposite Winston in one of the booths at Emmy's Diner.  
  
"And that's the reason why you have trouble trying to get into your old jumpsuit this morning." Winston pointed towards Venkman's large meal.  
  
"Hey, you can't blame me if I like to sample the local cuisine. Besides it's one of those times when I don't have to compete with Slimer." Peter took a large bite out of his breakfast/lunch.  
  
"Is something wrong Winston, you seemed distracted back in the woods there?" Winston settled down his coffee to get into an explanation.  
  
"It's weird, back there I just got this feeling I was being watched by something..inhuman, that feeling was back at the Police station. Something of pure evil." Peter had stopped as if struck by lightening.  
  
"We deal with inhuman monsters and creatures of pure evil every day, how does this differ?"  
  
"It's something other than ghosts, I've gotten used to ghosts now. But there's something out there in those woods, something lurking in the shadows that I don't want to go anywhere near."  
  
"Don't tell me you're a psychic too, that's all we need with Janine being one."  
  
"Peter I'm serious, there's something evil out there and we've just left Egon, Ray and that cop out there."  
  
"Hmm, what do you suggest we do? Go back?" Neither of them noticed a large crashing sound or the screeching of tyres outside the diner.  
  
"I think that might be a good idea." Just as Peter finished off his meal and paid the bill, their path was blocked by a crowd of people near the front of the diner looking out of the windows.  
  
"What the Hell?" the sound of nervous chatter was met by the crashing of metal and china hitting the floor as people knocked plates and cuttlery over as they got up in a hurry.  
  
"What the Hell is that?!" One customer shouted near the front of the diner. And nothing could have prepared Winston and Peter for what they saw outside. 


	5. A worrying discovery

Chapter Five  
  
"I just can't figure out what's wrong, if there was a supernatural entity nearby then it would register on the meters but we're getting nothing." Ray was sitting on a tree stump staring off into space as Egon stopped working on his PKE meter.  
  
"Egon, what if these monsters that the townsfolk have been seeing aren't supernatual related?" Egon glanced up as this fact registered.  
  
"Then it wouldn't register on the meters because the meters are only calibrated to register supernatual energy."  
  
"In the past we've modified the meters to pick up the biorythmic signatures to locate missing team members, isn't it possible to modify the meters to pick up inhuman readings, while also compensating background readings from wildlife?"  
  
"It's possible, that way anything that isn't human and not a regular animal would be picked up in the meter's range. But it would take me at least an hour to recalibrate the meters and the range of the meter wouldn't be as far if it was registering spiritual energy." Officer Spencer who up to this point lost track of the conversation decided to get a better grasp of the situation.  
  
"Spiritual energy? modifiying the meters? I'm sorry but this is too complex for me."  
  
"Sorry, Egon being a physicist means that he can use wording that's understandable to him, but can easily confuse a normal person. You see this blue machine?" Officer Spencer nodded as Ray held up a PKE meter.  
  
"Normally this device would register PKE or Psychic Kinetic Energy given off by ghosts. However we've been able to change it's settings so that instead of reading spiritual energy, it can register living energy." So far Officer Spencer was understanding the lecture.  
  
"However this would be useless if we want to find something that's inhuman but alive. So we can program the meter to search for inhuman readings and we can make this easier by screening out the normal inhuman readings casued by the wildlife."  
  
"So you'll then be able to locate and find anything that doesn't match normal patterns of energy?"  
  
"Yes, in theory. However Egon is going to try change the settings on the meters so we can detect the creatures. But we'll need a cleaner environment."  
  
"We could go back to the Police Department, we've got a meeting room which has been given over to other uses in the past."  
  
"Excellent, that should do nicely. Ray, you'd better radio Winston and Peter let them know the plan."  
  
"Ray to Winston.....Ray to Winston....Winston do you read me, over?"  
  
"What's wrong?" Officer Spencer had a expression of concern on his face.  
  
"I don't know, it's possible their radio is dead or that there's something in this valley that's disrupting the signal. Either way we can't radio them here."  
  
"And this means that as long as we're up in these woods, they won't be able to radio us if there's a problem." The three of them packed up the equipment and started to make their journey back down into Raccoon City. 


	6. Luchtime at Emmy's Diner

Chapter Six  
  
It looked like a scene from a destruction derby movie.  
Peter and Winston were staring out of one of the diner windows as the scene of accident unfolded in front of them. In the middle of the road three cars had smashed into each other and two pedestrians had been injured, however the cause or the accident was the pedestrian shuffling down the street. The pedestrian that had until three minutes ago been knocked under the wheels of a car.  
  
"Is there a doctor?", "Oh my God, look at his face!", "Hey buddy, are you alright? you look like hell.", "Someone please help him." A cop who had been off duty in the diner rushed out into the street to assist the injured man.  
  
"Sir? can you hear me? I'm going to take you to Raccoon Hospital in my squadcar, just follow me....sir? Sir what are you doing? Sir please if you'll just follow me I'll..Ow!" The cop pulled his hand away from the injured man's mouth out of suprise.  
  
"Ow, he bit me!" Another pedestrian held the cop's bleeding hand as she wrapped a handkerchief around the wound. The cop unholstered his pistol with his free hand. The injured man started shuffling towards the pedestrian who was bandaging the injured hand.  
  
"Sir, stop what you are doing and put your hands on your head." The injured man let out an unearthly moan, as if he couldn't talk.  
  
"Sir, do not make me ask you again!" the man continued his injured walk towards the pedestrian who was also backing away.  
  
"Alright Sir, you have forced me to do this." The cop fired a shot into the man's leg. The man stumbled but continued his movement towards the pedestrian.  
  
"What!?" The cop fired another shot into the opposite leg. The man stumbled again but continued to walk. Realising that the man must have been on drugs or something ,the Cop's mind turned towards the pedestrian.  
  
"Ma'am please, move towards an open store, or diner. This man is extremely dangerous." The cop pulled out his radio to call headquarters.  
  
"Dispatch, I need backup, we have a three car pile-up outside Emmy's Diner. We have two civilians down and a hostile suspect." the Pedestrian had now backed against a store front as the injured man continued his advance.  
  
"Received, unit 206 dispatched to situation at Emmy's Diner."  
  
"Peter we have to do something, that lady's gonna get hurt if we don't do something."  
  
"What do you suggest we do Winston?"  
  
***  
  
"Ray I'm getting something." Both Officer Spencer and Ray crossed the meeting room to see what Egon was doing.  
  
"But you haven't made all of the modifications yet."  
  
"I know that the modifications haven't been finished, but there must be something big enough to register on the meter. The display cackled and changed into static for a few seconds before refining and beeping to show it had a reading.  
  
"Ray, have a look at this, the meter's registering at least fifteen different sources of readings just within the area of this building, I'm going to widen the field as far as i can before the signal degenerates." The meter emitted a wilder beeping noise as it registered more creatures.  
  
"This isn't good Ray, I've been able to widen the field to a twenty block radius, and the results are startling. Of course the results would be less acurate due to widening the field and the signals being affected by some man-made objects. But the meter is registering more than fifty signatures across town."  
  
"What does this mean?" Officer Spencer was now getting worried.  
  
"This means that if the readings are as acurate as the meter says they are, then we could be dealing with a serious infestation. We need to alert the town!"  
  
"Now hold on Dr. Spengler! You said that these readings could be misleading?"  
  
"Correct."  
  
"Is it possible that the readings could be refined or something so we can get definate, accurate results?" Egon's face frowned as he thought up a way to boost the signal.  
  
"If I was able to boost the power supply and and enhance the scanners, then we should be able to get a better set of results."  
  
"Good, I don't want to start a town meeting that causes a riot due to improper results, how long will it take?"  
  
"If I started working now, and if we're able to get the parts we need, then probably two to three hours."  
  
"What do you need?" Officer Spencer asked. 


	7. A bad day to be a RPD cop

Chapter Seven  
  
"Okay buddy now leave the lady alone and let's talk about this." Peter slowly approached the injured man. Both he and Winston had managed to persuade the cop to let them try a different tactic. Peter was rewarded by the man turning his attention to the Ghostbuster.  
  
"Good, very good. Now follow me...follow me, that's right keep following....and NOW!" Peter jumped out of the way as Winston rugby tackled the man.  
  
"And now he's down for the count! One...two....oh Hell! Ten! You lose sucker!" The injured man didn't seem to be moving.  
  
"Peter, I think you should see this." Peter moved over and looked over Winston's shoulder.  
  
"Yuck! I didn't know that a car crash could do that."  
  
"Peter, no car wreck can cause that kind of disfigurement, his face is partially rotted!"  
  
"But he can't be rotting, he was walking around." The cop had joined the group of bystanders looking at the gruesome scene. The cop poked his pistol in the rotted face, and was rewarded when a large chunk of the guy's nose stuck to the barrel or the gun.  
  
"Oh my God!"  
  
"Everyone get back! stay as far back as possible this man could be infected." The cop motioned for the Ghostbusters to move back and he started to move back himself.  
  
"Dispatch the situation at Emmy's has gotten worse, we have an infected civilian. It's something real nasty, his face is rotted."  
  
"Repeat 216, we didn't copy that, over."  
  
"I said his face is ROTTED! send a chemical spill unit down here from the hospital, we could have multipal infections, over."  
  
"Understood 216, over and out." The cops who had arrived as backup started to slot together barriers to cordon off the scene.  
  
"You'd better get that looked at Officer, you could be infected." Winston inspected the cop's hand wound that was discoloured and still bleeding.  
  
"Uh thanks for the help, can I take down your name and address so I can recommend you for a comendation gentlemen?"  
  
"Sorry, we don't live here, we're on business from New York."  
  
"New York? Nice play, know a friend there who's just graduated from Police Academy."  
  
"Nice to know." Peter tried to hide to hide his sarcasm.  
  
"Peter I'm worried, what if there are more people like that guy?"  
  
"I don't know, but if he's what I think he is then the town is in serious trouble."  
  
***  
  
Ray is explaining the basics of Ghostbustung while Egon works on amplifying the meter.  
  
"...so what the beams do us ensnare the ghost allowing us to hold it, we then activate one of these (a ghost trap) and the ghost is pulled into it. Once we get back to our headquarters we then load the trap into a storage facility and then the ghost is trapped in there."  
  
"Wow, Ghostbusting sounds exciting."  
  
"It is, personally I love the job, wouldn't swap it for anthing. However there is one member of our team that doesn't seem to like a side of it."  
  
"What side of the job is that?" Officer Spencer enquired.  
  
"Getting slimed." Ray said with a evil grin. Both Ray and Officer Spencer's attention were drawn to the meter which gave off several loud beeps.  
  
"That should do it." Egon closed the rear panel on the PKE meter and turned the scanner on, the screen became static again for a few seconds but seadied and the energy signatures began registering on the scanner.  
  
"Okay, I'm going to set the meter to scan a five block radius. I'm regisetering at least thirty separate signatures in the area.  
  
"but hold on, didn't you set that meter to scan a wider area?"  
  
"The PKE meter is very sensitive, on some busts it isn't uncommon for a meter to fry itself from high readings. I've set it to a five block radius to not only ease the amount of area needed to be scanned but also so that we don't drain the energy to quickly."  
  
"Okay, so when do we start?" Officer Spencer was interrupted as one of the windows in the corridor outside shattered.  
  
"What the?" Officer Spencer unholstered his gun and had it trained on the Meeting Room door.  
  
"Wait, I'm getting a reading from behind that door, whatever it is has the same energy signature as have registered across Raccoon." Officer Spencer held onto the door handle getting ready in case anything happened.  
  
"On three, one...two...THREE!" The pulled the door open as a body stumbled through the doorway. Whoever it was seemed badly injured as it's shirt was drenched in dry blood.  
  
"Hold still, don't make me shoot you!" Officer Spencer's pistol was pointed at the person's leg.  
  
"Eeelp meee, eeelp mee!" The injured person managed to moan before collapsing to the floor.  
  
"My God, someone get the medic." Officer Spencer glanced to see that both Ray and Egon had no idea of where the medic was.  
  
"The medic's in the main offices in the second door leading into the West Wing." Ray having registered the information jogged off down the coridor in the correct direction.  
  
"Dr. Spengler, this man has a severe throat wound, could you find me a cloth or rag that we can use to stop the bleeding." Egon returned a few minutes later with a rag. Officer Spencer started to apply the makeshift dressing when the injured man's hands grasped his wrist and moved it towards his mouth. Officer Spencer managed to pull his hand free before he was bitten. The injured man tried to get up but seemd unable and remained on his back.  
  
"What is it?" Officer Spencer backed away in horror. Ray returned with the medic who gave a visual inspection of the injured man.  
  
"He showing signs of rigor mortis and even parts of his flesh have rotted. He's infected, and whatever he's caught is slowly killing him. It's a good thing he didn't bite you or you could have become infected, but I'd suggest that you clean your hands thouroughly to avoid speading the virus."  
  
"Right, Don't touch him then. Once I've cleaned up I'll tell Dispatch to radio the hospital to send the chemical spill unit." Officer Spencer dissapeared off in the direction of the wash rooms.  
  
"Wow, this is fantastic! A real life situation ivolving a living corpse. We must document this!" Ray grabbed his video camera to video the event.  
  
"Ray, do bare in mind he's not dead yet."  
  
"Excuse me doctor, could you please repeat what you said."  
  
"Okay, but once you've got the footage you'd better make a copy to send over to the hospital so they have an idea of what they're dealing with, if this is a spill then they could be dealing with more people with the same symptoms." 


	8. Incident at the Meeting Room

Chapter Seven  
  
"Okay buddy now leave the lady alone and let's talk about this." Peter slowly approached the injured man. Both he and Winston had managed to persuade the cop to let them try a different tactic. Peter was rewarded by the man turning his attention to the Ghostbuster.  
  
"Good, very good. Now follow me...follow me, that's right keep following....and NOW!" Peter jumped out of the way as Winston rugby tackled the man.  
  
"And now he's down for the count! One...two....oh Hell! Ten! You lose sucker!" The injured man didn't seem to be moving.  
  
"Peter, I think you should see this." Peter moved over and looked over Winston's shoulder.  
  
"Yuck! I didn't know that a car crash could do that."  
  
"Peter, no car wreck can cause that kind of disfigurement, his face is partially rotted!"  
  
"But he can't be rotting, he was walking around." The cop had joined the group of bystanders looking at the gruesome scene. The cop poked his pistol in the rotted face, and was rewarded when a large chunk of the guy's nose stuck to the barrel or the gun.  
  
"Oh my God!"  
  
"Everyone get back! stay as far back as possible this man could be infected." The cop motioned for the Ghostbusters to move back and he started to move back himself.  
  
"Dispatch the situation at Emmy's has gotten worse, we have an infected civilian. It's something real nasty, his face is rotted."  
  
"Repeat 216, we didn't copy that, over."  
  
"I said his face is ROTTED! send a chemical spill unit down here from the hospital, we could have multipal infections, over."  
  
"Understood 216, over and out." The cops who had arrived as backup started to slot together barriers to cordon off the scene.  
  
"You'd better get that looked at Officer, you could be infected." Winston inspected the cop's hand wound that was discoloured and still bleeding.  
  
"Uh thanks for the help, can I take down your name and address so I can recommend you for a comendation gentlemen?"  
  
"Sorry, we don't live here, we're on business from New York."  
  
"New York? Nice play, know a friend there who's just graduated from Police Academy."  
  
"Nice to know." Peter tried to hide to hide his sarcasm.  
  
"Peter I'm worried, what if there are more people like that guy?"  
  
"I don't know, but if he's what I think he is then the town is in serious trouble."  
  
***  
  
Ray is explaining the basics of Ghostbustung while Egon works on amplifying the meter.  
  
"...so what the beams do us ensnare the ghost allowing us to hold it, we then activate one of these (a ghost trap) and the ghost is pulled into it. Once we get back to our headquarters we then load the trap into a storage facility and then the ghost is trapped in there."  
  
"Wow, Ghostbusting sounds exciting."  
  
"It is, personally I love the job, wouldn't swap it for anthing. However there is one member of our team that doesn't seem to like a side of it."  
  
"What side of the job is that?" Officer Spencer enquired.  
  
"Getting slimed." Ray said with a evil grin. Both Ray and Officer Spencer's attention were drawn to the meter which gave off several loud beeps.  
  
"That should do it." Egon closed the rear panel on the PKE meter and turned the scanner on, the screen became static again for a few seconds but seadied and the energy signatures began registering on the scanner.  
  
"Okay, I'm going to set the meter to scan a five block radius. I'm regisetering at least thirty separate signatures in the area.  
  
"but hold on, didn't you set that meter to scan a wider area?"  
  
"The PKE meter is very sensitive, on some busts it isn't uncommon for a meter to fry itself from high readings. I've set it to a five block radius to not only ease the amount of area needed to be scanned but also so that we don't drain the energy to quickly."  
  
"Okay, so when do we start?" Officer Spencer was interrupted as one of the windows in the corridor outside shattered.  
  
"What the?" Officer Spencer unholstered his gun and had it trained on the Meeting Room door.  
  
"Wait, I'm getting a reading from behind that door, whatever it is has the same energy signature as have registered across Raccoon." Officer Spencer held onto the door handle getting ready in case anything happened.  
  
"On three, one...two...THREE!" The pulled the door open as a body stumbled through the doorway. Whoever it was seemed badly injured as it's shirt was drenched in dry blood.  
  
"Hold still, don't make me shoot you!" Officer Spencer's pistol was pointed at the person's leg.  
  
"Eeelp meee, eeelp mee!" The injured person managed to moan before collapsing to the floor.  
  
"My God, someone get the medic." Officer Spencer glanced to see that both Ray and Egon had no idea of where the medic was.  
  
"The medic's in the main offices in the second door leading into the West Wing." Ray having registered the information jogged off down the coridor in the correct direction.  
  
"Dr. Spengler, this man has a severe throat wound, could you find me a cloth or rag that we can use to stop the bleeding." Egon returned a few minutes later with a rag. Officer Spencer started to apply the makeshift dressing when the injured man's hands grasped his wrist and moved it towards his mouth. Officer Spencer managed to pull his hand free before he was bitten. The injured man tried to get up but seemd unable and remained on his back.  
  
"What is it?" Officer Spencer backed away in horror. Ray returned with the medic who gave a visual inspection of the injured man.  
  
"He showing signs of rigor mortis and even parts of his flesh have rotted. He's infected, and whatever he's caught is slowly killing him. It's a good thing he didn't bite you or you could have become infected, but I'd suggest that you clean your hands thouroughly to avoid speading the virus."  
  
"Right, Don't touch him then. Once I've cleaned up I'll tell Dispatch to radio the hospital to send the chemical spill unit." Officer Spencer dissapeared off in the direction of the wash rooms.  
  
"Wow, this is fantastic! A real life situation ivolving a living corpse. We must document this!" Ray grabbed his video camera to video the event.  
  
"Ray, do bare in mind he's not dead yet."  
  
"Excuse me doctor, could you please repeat what you said."  
  
"Okay, but once you've got the footage you'd better make a copy to send over to the hospital so they have an idea of what they're dealing with, if this is a spill then they could be dealing with more people with the same symptoms." 


	9. Death of the morals of Protection and Se...

Chapter Nine  
  
Peter walked into the main hall of the RPD. The wave of cold air hit him as soon as he closed the door behind him.  
  
"Brrrrr, I hate this place." Peter walked over to a noticeboard that held a map, pulling out his radio he tried to contact Ray.  
  
"Ray can you hear me, over?" A few seconds of static went by.  
  
"Coming in loud and clear, What's up Peter?" Peter adjusted the volume as Ray's voice blared out of the radio handset.  
  
"Where are you?"  
  
"We're in the Meeting Room in the west wing. There's a map in the Main Hall."  
  
"Yeah thanks Ray, I'll be there in a few minutes and let you know the situation. Over and out." ("Why must we always say that when using the radio?") Peter glanced at the map to get an idea of which way to go, and then moved towards the set of double doors nearest to the entrance.  
  
***  
  
"Excuse me, are you the gentleman who brought in Officer Phillips?" Winston glanced up from his magazine to be greeted by the solumn face of a nurse."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"I'm afraid that Officer Phillips is dead." Winston's face paled.  
  
"But that's impossible, he was only looking a little pale when I brought him in!"  
  
"I'm sorry but he suffered severe convulsions when his hand was being treated and was rushed to the Operating Room, the doctors tried to save him but he was too far gone."  
  
"Wow, I just can't believe it. Do you know if he had any family?"  
  
"No, he was living on his own. Could you please take his things back to the Police Department as soon as the Coroner has finished the post mortem?"  
  
"Yeah, sure." The nurse walked off to attend to another patient while Winston walked over to the glass double doors and looked out at the park across the street. Deciding to he wanted to have a moment to think, Winston left the waiting room of Raccoon General Hospital to wander Raccoon Park. 


	10. Thoughts in Raccoon Park

Chapter Ten  
  
"Ray, I've just received a message from Winston. You know that cop I was telling you about earlier?"  
  
"The one who was bitten?"  
  
"Yes, Winston's just told me that he's died after a complication at the hospital." Ray turned to Egon and he nodded.  
  
"Peter, you'd better tell Winston that he should be careful up there. If that cop has the same virus that the guy who nearly attacked us here had could mean that soon he'll be up and around...and not in the living variety."  
  
"Understood." Officer Spencer rushed in as Peter went out into the corridor to contact Winston.  
  
"There's been another attack." Ray and Egon turned away from their work.  
  
"Where?"  
  
"Right outside." Egon and Ray got up and followed Officer Spencer.  
  
"Okay Winston ,over and out. Hey where are you going?" Peter rushed off in pursuit of the two other Ghostbusters and the cop.  
  
***  
  
Winston sighed, he hadn't been having any luck in clearing the thoughts from his head. It was weird, less the two hours ago he'd been helping Officer Phillips into the hospital, and not long after that he'd died.  
  
"Really puts things into perspective." He softly muttered as he stared at his reflection in the pool under the bridge.  
  
("You know, I really wonder if this was the right choice, becoming a Ghostbuster. All it really seems is to constantly remind us that we're not immortal, that some day we'll be joining the ghosts in the restless eternity or roaming the Earth, and of course there would probably be someone there to deal with us.") Winston had entered a small section off from the main part of the park. The soft slushing of flowing water was revealed when Winston sat down opposite a large fountain.  
  
("Is it really worth it? Am I really making a difference by busting ghosts when I could have become a doctor?, or a teacher?") Winston stared at the fountain.  
  
("Life is just like that fountain, entertaining when working, but as soon as it gets too old the show stops.") Winston suddenly smiled as the fact rang home.  
  
("Though, if I hadn't become a Ghostbuster, I probably never would have made as good friends as the guys. How many businesses can boast an on-the-site psychiatrist with a terrible sense of humour. A mechanic who has a nearly endless enjoyment of the unexpected. And a physicist who would take the end of the world to get his attention when all else fails. You would never get that kind of combination outside of the leading paranormal removal business in the world. Face it Zeddmore, life is limited. But when you've got friends like Ray Stantz, Egon Spengler and Peter Venkman to go through it with then you're guarenteed one hell of a show!") Grabbing his leather coat from the bench, Winston got up and started to walk back to the hospital. 


	11. A zombie at the RPD

Chapter Eleven  
  
It was a mess. Even though the body was covered in a tarp to hide it from public view the bloodstains were easily visable, especially the numer of places where it could leak out of. The tarp stirred slightly in the afternoon breeze.  
  
"I can't believe it, it took five bullets just to stop her, and only because I put the fifth in her brain." A pale-faced cop leant against the main gate of the RPD staring at the shrouded corpse. Officer Spencer crouched next to the body and lifeted the tarp.  
  
"Yep, just like the one before." He got up again.  
  
"That makes three so far." Ray announced.  
  
"Yeah, and I don't like it, three of them in the past four hours, it can't be a coincidence can it?"  
  
"I doubt it." Egon said in a stern voice.  
  
"I didn't think so either. Have you been able to apply a map of the city onto that meter's memory?"  
  
"Yes, however the meter will need to be modified again so that both the map and the indentification beacons are visable." Ray glanced down at the corpse, then up at the sky. The clocktower and roof of the RPD seemed unnatual against the yellow-blue sky. A paramedic who had been leaning against his ambulance taking a coffee break walked over and addressed Officer Spencer.  
  
"What should I do with her? take her back to Raccoon General?"  
  
"You might as well, but be careful when handeling the body. You'd better wear gloves just in case." The paramedic gave Officer Spencer a suspicious glance.  
  
"Just in case of what?"  
  
"Just in case." Officer Spencer was beginning to lose his temper.  
  
"Whatever you say sir." A few minutes later the paramedics loaded the body into the ambulance and drove off with the siren lights flashing.  
  
"You'd better take him inside, get him a cup of coffee while you're at it." Another policeman nodded and helped the pale looking cop back into the Police Department.  
  
"This is getting serious, two attacks today already within feet of our offices. If I didn't know any better I'd say that they were homing in on this place."  
  
"It might be advised if security around the area was increased. The last thing we want happening is a serious outbreak and the Police Department being taken out. The citizens would have nowhere to go." Egon pushed his glasses back up his nose.  
  
"I'll see what I can do Dr. Spengler, you'd better not stay out here unaccompanied in case another one of those things comes wandering along." Officer Spencer walked back into the Police Department.  
  
"Egon I'm worried, what if this is only the begining of something bigger. This town could be in real danger. Waiting could cost valuable time."  
  
"Ray, as a scientist I have to follow at least some rules. I don't want to cause a panic when all our evidence is from a few random cases of infection...and one case which could have resulted from faulty hospital equipment. I'll radio Winston in an hour if he has any information on that Officer he brought in and if there's any information he can get on the man who bit the Officer."  
  
"I sure hope this is just a few random cases, because if it isn't then we might not be walking away from this case." Even though it wasn't evident in his expression, Ray could see real worry in Egon's eyes.  
  
"If it turns out there is an infection going around then it could already be too late." Ray and Egon then walked back into the Police Department.  
  
***  
  
Winston was once again in the waiting room of Raccoon General Hospital. It was a little quieter than when he'd come in with the now deceased Officer Phillips.  
  
"Excuse me miss, could you direct me to the Coroner's Office?" The nurse smiled curtely.  
  
"Yes sir, just take the stairs down to the basement, and follow the corridor until you find a pair of double doors."  
  
"Thankyou miss." Winston walked into the back of the waiting room that housed the stairs. It took him a few minutes to decend the flight or steps and find the Coroner's Office. Winston knocked on the door.  
  
"Hello?" He was greeted by a man in his mid-fifties, balding and wearing wire frame glasses.  
  
"Can I help you sir?" The Coroner was busy drying his hands on a towel.  
  
"Excuse me doctor....Dr. Stern, would it be possible to have a look at Officer Phillips' autopsy report?"  
  
"Well I haven't started on him yet, I'ts against hospital policy but would you like to witness the autopsy? It would make classifying anything unusual easier."  
  
"If you don't mind."  
  
"No, It's fine with me. I'm always glad to meet someone intrested in the field. I just have one question, have you seen a dead person before?" 


	12. Smoke and a sunset

Chapeter Twelve  
  
Peter was staring out of the one of the second floor windows that lined the corridor running past the S.T.A.R.S. offices. From his point of view he could make out most of the roof tops of the buildings that made up Uptown Raccoon City. The sky was now a deep orange colour as the sun began to set. Peter's world had suffered a nasty blow by the worrying discover that zombies could actually be real, and as he stared out at the unsuspecting Raccoon City, he couldn't help but wonder how far a disaster would have to go before there was no way to go back. He sighed as he tried to lift his spirits. Deciding that he wouldn't be able to do it without the use of a drink he started walking back towards the Main Hall. On the journey there he passed the Meeting Room. Egon had finshed his work on the PKE meter and was monitoring the activity in the area, Ray however was engrossed in watching the local news.  
  
"I'm just going out for a drink or two, I'll probably be back in an hour." Ray glanced up from the television.  
  
"Peter try not to get too drunk, you remember what happend last New Year's?" Peter cringed at the memory, having had a pretty bad day he had gone and got himself completely blended and had ended up having to be retrieved from the firehouse sign by the FDNY after climbing out onto the ledge an hour before midnight January first.  
  
"Don't worry Ray, and if I do, I doubt there are any signs on firehouses that I can clime onto." Peter then strolled out of the Main Hall and into the courtyard. Taking a deep breath of the pine scented air, he walked over to the main gate and began his exploration of Raccoon City for a bar. Instantly missing one down the road from the RPD by passing through a series of back alleys.  
  
***  
  
"Today's examination will be starting at 6:00PM, the residing examiner is Dr. Leonard Stern. Our subject is Officer Richard Phillips, thirty-five years of age, caucasion, six foot three inches and approximately two-hundred pounds. Today's examination is being witnessed by Ghostbuster Winston Zeddmore." Dr. Stern lifted the shroud and instantly paused the tape.  
  
"Wow." Dr. Stern unpaused the tape.  
  
"The cadaver is showing signs of advanced epidermal dacay as well as congealment of the blood." Winston moved closer to examine Officer Phillips.  
  
"There is a wound on the back of the right hand that appears to be a bite wound." Dr. Stern moved over to give an better examination of the hand.  
  
"The arrangement of the bite marks suggests human teeth, however the trauma around the wound suggests that the flesh has become infected through the bite. Officer Phillips appears to have died after suffering convulsions brought on by the foreign substance in his bloodstream." Dr. Stern paused the tape again.  
  
"Mr. Zeddmore, I'm about to open up his chest, you may sense a strong smell, this is because the substance has sped up the decay process and the the bodily organs will have become to turn into a slush we call "human soup". Just take a deep breath before I open him up and you'll become accustomed ." Dr. Stern started the tape recording.  
  
"I am now opening up the chest..."  
  
"Oh my..." Winston tried to cover his nose and not cough at the same time. Even Dr. Stern was taken back by the smell.  
  
"Um..the..the cadaver's organs are showing advanced signs of...of celluar decomposition." Dr. Stern moved the weighing scales over to take a measurement of how heavy Officer Phillips' organs.  
  
"Normally human organs in a healthy cadaver weigh...what the?" Dr. Stern moved closer to inspect Officer Phillips' face.  
  
"What is it?" Winston moved closer.  
  
"Funny, must have been some air trapped in the bloodstream, giving the allusion that his eye moved."  
  
"But I thought you said his blood was congealed." Both Winston's and Dr. Stern's faces paled, then they started backing away from Officer Phillips. An unearthly moan filled the autopsy room.  
  
"This..this isn't possible! he can't possibly be alive, if he was dead he wouldn't be decomposing." Officer Phillips started to move his arm. Winston backed as far away as he could before he bumped into another examining table.  
  
"Stay calm Mr. Zeddmore, I'm going to use the intercom to call down some help." Winston started to edge his way around the table as Officer Phillips' corpse sat up, and several lengths of intestine fell to the white tiled floor with a wet, meaty "flumph."  
  
"We need help down here in the Autopsy Room! What do you mean no-one is available?! We need help down here now!" Winston glanced at Dr. Stern from over Officer Phillips' rotting shoulder.  
  
"Why aren't any of the guards free? Send him now, I don't care if he's a trainee. A trainee is better then no-one!" Winston was now on the opposite side of the table. And Officer Phillip's was leaving a bloody trail in his wake as he slowly got closer to the Ghostbuster.  
  
"Mr. Zeddmore, they're sending someone down, the damned fools! Most of the security guards upstairs are having a party. The only person they could send down was a trainee, I'm not even sure if he has any experience with a gun." Dr. Stern pulled off his glasses to wipe his brow.  
  
"At present a trainee would safice." Winston was now reaching a set of counters that lined the wall behind him. As soon as his back hit the metal surface he started looking around for a weapon. He spotted a fire-axe.  
  
"Doc, I think I've got an idea." 


	13. Drinks and death at the Bar Black Jack

Chapter Thirteen  
  
Peter liked the place, sure it was small, lacked a jukebox and had a small selection of in-house games. He didn't care, as long as he could get a drink then this place might as well be the storeroom in the firehouse basement. After about fifteen minutes wondering Uptown Raccoon he had stumbled upon the"Bar Black Jack".  
  
"Bartender, A Budwieser please." Peter panned his eyes around thr room as he waited for his drink.  
  
"Here you go sir, that will be fifteen Dollars eighty." Peter delved into his wallet and pulled out the appropriate cash. He took a slurp of his ice-cold beer and set it down on the bar.  
  
"Nice place you got here, how long have you been open?" The bartender moved over to talk to Peter while drying drinks glasses.  
  
"Two years now, the place still hasn't got all of the stuff I want in it yet."  
  
"Big plans huh? you should meet Egon."  
  
"Egon? what is it, some sort of computer software?" Peter looked at the bartender an a small grin crossed his face.  
  
"you could say that." The sound of a door closing behind him gained Peter's mild intrest. The bartender also looked up from his job.  
  
"Hey buddy, are you okay? You look like a truck ran you over." Peter bolted upright and looked at the newcomer again. The bartender was right, he looked like he'd been run over. And another thing peter noticed that he looked just like that guy who had bitten the cop earlier. Peter started to judge how far away the door was and how quickly the guy was moving.  
  
"Buddy, either buy a drink or get out of my bar!" The bartender's hand went beneath the polished surface of the bar.  
  
The man shuffled next to the patron at the end of the bar, sized him up an began the job of eating his left shoulder. The bar patron screemed in pain and collapsed to the floor clucthing his shoulder. The scream seemed to break a spell over the place as other bar patrons started to abandon their drinks and leave. However the man had now found more intresting sources of food and started to attack the patrons heading for the front door. The bartender, having had enough of this trouble maker who had started this fight in his bar, raised a Remington shotgun and pointed it at the guy's chest.  
  
"Buddy, if you don't stop that shit I'm going to shoot you!" The guy made little effort to register the bartender's warning.  
  
"Okay, don't say I didn't warn you!" the bartender pulled the trigger and the shot crashed into the guy's chest...and continued through his torso until it became embedded in the wall behind him, shorting out part of a neon sign.  
  
"What the Hell?!" The bartender raised the gun again, but was not sure whether to fire again or not.  
  
"Bartender, is there another exit to this place?" Peter was moving behind the bar.  
  
"Just through there." The bartender pointed with his free hand to the door behind him.  
  
"It leads straight out into a back alley." Peter opened the door and was about to step through when he turned back to face the bartender.  
  
"What are you waiting for?" The bartender, gun still pointed at the man who was making a lunch of his customers, turned and grinned at Peter.  
  
"No-one takes my bar without a fight. Now get out of here and call for help." Peter, absentmindedly began to run and try find a payphone, he finally found one next to a grocer's. Dialling 911he heard the usual clicks as the connection was made.  
  
"Raccoon City Police Department, how may I direct your call?" the famale voice of the operator said through the phone.  
  
"You've got to hurry there's a fight at Bar Black Jack."  
  
"Is anybody injured?"  
  
"Yes, two people have severe bite wounds and there's another guy who's trying to handle the situation himself."  
  
"Thankyou for your call, a unit will be dispatched as soon as possible."  
  
"But wait he's...." the dial tone replaced the operator's voice.  
  
"Damn!" Peter slammed the phone back into it's cradle and tried to get an idea of where he was, either way he had to get back to the Police Department.  
  
***  
  
The easy part was already done, Winston had been able to get the fire-axe out of it's glass case. The hard part was using it with-out the dead cop biting him in the process. Winston raised the axe defensibly and started to edge himself along the back wall of the Autopsy Room.  
  
"Mr. Zeddmore be careful, if he bites you then you'll become infected like him." Dr. Stern was now starting to clime up onto the stainless steel counter.  
  
"Not unless I have anything to do with it, I'm going to try slow him down with this axe. On my mark...one...two..." The double doors of the Autopsy room a few feet away from Dr. Stern suddenly burst open as a security guard rushed in, gun in hand.  
  
"It's about time, what took you so long." Dr. Stern was visably angry.  
  
"Sorry Dr. Stern but we we having a few problems upstairs."  
  
"Three!" Winston swung the axe and it connected with Officer Phillips' hip, and continued to pluge into him until it nearly cut him in half. The force of the swing managed to off ballance Officer Phillips' and he collapsed to the floor. As Winston started to cross the floor, Officer Phillips' grabbed his boot.  
  
"Aaagghh! Get off me!" Winston shook his boot free and crossed the room. Officer Phillips tried to pull his extensively damaged body up so he coul chase after his meal.  
  
"Shoot him now! what are you waiting for?" The security guard crossed the room, hesitated a few moments and pulled the trigger. Two bullets flew from the gun, the first missing it's target and crashing into the tile floor. The second one ended in a sickening "crunch" as it penetrated Officer Phillips' skull. The corpse spasmed for a few minutes and then remained still. The guard crouched and began to poke the barrel of his gun into the hole in the skull.  
  
"Don't touch it! The guard pulled his gun away from the hole in the skull and got up. Dr. Stern walked over to the tape recorder.  
  
"Examination suspended until further notice." He clicked the stop button and sat down on the floor, staring at the blood trail. Winston joined the guard in looking at the definately dead zombie.  
  
"I don't think I'll be able to look at another corpse the same way again." Dr. Stern had joined them.  
  
"You'd better get that body burned and fast. We don't know if the virus can spread other than by getting bitten." Dr. Stern walked over to the intercom.  
  
"Send the chemical spill unit down to the Autopsy Room, we've got a mess that needs cleaning up." He placed the intercom handset back in it's cradle.  
  
"Not bad, how long have you been working here?" Winston asked the trainee.  
  
"I only started yesterday." Winston gave a low whistle.  
  
"Bet you never expected to get that kind of experience." The guard shook his head.  
  
"Damn I forgot, Ecto's ready now."  
  
***  
  
"Tonight on TRCN, Raccoon General Hospital has become one of the leading hospitals in the county with the opening of it's new chemical spill unit, shooting S.T.A.R.S.: what has become of the RPD's sepical ops team, and Michelle Porter gives us her excusive news report in the quality of protection offered to us by the RPD's chief Brian Irons.  
  
"Welcome, today Raccoon City General Hospital became one of the county's leading medical facilities after Mayor Michael Warren opened it's new Chemical Spill unit this morning. The hospital received extra funding for the unit after receiving several large donations from Umbrella Inc. During a press conference, Ben Burtulucci of the Raccoon Times raised concern over the large donations.  
Amanda Whitney simply said "Umbrella has received so much from the community, that it was about time it gave back to the community." Umbrella have recently featured in the news, after announcing that it would be renovating and upgrading it's facilites throughout Raccoon City. Such upgrades include the construction of a new Sales Office and updation of computer and security software at the Umbrella plant on the outskirts of town." The view changed to a female newsreader.   
"Shooting S.T.A.R.S.: that's one of the topics that has received critiscim in recent months, what is happening with the RPD's special ops team? In a interview with Chief of Police Brian Irons, Peter Snow gave us this report." The view changed to a expensively decorated office. Sitting in a large chair behind a large desk was Chief Irons, an un-friendly man who looked like a politician, and had a greasy mustache to match.  
  
"Chief Irons, could you give us any information on the current status of S.T.A.R.S.?" Irons' face darkened for a moment, but brightened as his politician-like charisma took action.  
  
"Currently S.T.A.R.S. are the subject to an investigation by Internal Affairs, we are hoping that this investigation will be ending soon, however as some members will be suffering dissaplinary action, new members will have to recruited." Chief Irons turned down any further questions with the quote "I'm a busy man, I have to ensure this city's Police Department continues to run smoothly."  
  
"After the break, we'll be showing Michelle Porter's special report on the state of Raccoon City's protection." Ray muted the televison during the ad break.  
  
"It's starting to get dark out there and I'm worried, Winston should have arrived by now and so should have Peter." Ray stared out of the ground floor windows and saw the afternoon was slowly turning into evening.  
  
"I'd better radio them incase anything's wrong." Ray pulled out his hand set and set it to the standard frequency.  
  
"This is Ray...this is Ray, guys can you hear me?"  
  
"Loud and clear Ray, i'm on my way back to the RPD, my quiet evening just got noisy."  
  
"Zombie?" Ray asked  
  
"Definately."  
  
"Have you heard from Winston yet?"  
  
"No, I'm out of range down here, and even up at the RPD the signal was strained."  
  
"Okay, see you soon Peter." Ray switched off the radio.  
  
"No word from Winston?" Egon said from across the room.  
  
"No and I'm worried, what if something serious happens and we need to relay information to him but we can't?"  
  
"Then Winston's on his own. But Winston will know what to do, after all he turned us from a buch of inexpereinced scientists into a proper team. He'll be okay." Even though Egon was right, Ray didn't take much comfort from his friend's words.  
  
***  
  
Things were not going to plan. His planned route was pretty simple, walk along the main roads upto the RPD, but there had been a number of car accidents along the way and the places were being cordonned off by the Police. Wgat was worse was that he'd tried to go back using the alleys he had got to the bar using, and had found his way barred by a gate held shut by a rope an only burning it would get the gate open. So he had to find another way up to the RPD. He was making his way along Fisson Street when the apartment building across the street burst into flames.  
  
"Woah!" Peter ducked as several windows exploded and showered the street in broken glass and window frames. Once the main blast had finished he got up, and stared at the cloud of smoke slowly rising into the sky above Raccoon.  
  
"Oh boy, things are starting to fall apart." The blast had managed to dislodge a large section of wall which collapsed onto the apartment building next door, spreading the flames. Sirens in the distance told Peter that either the emergency services were on their way, or that they were dealing with other problems. The sound of metal crashing caught his attention, he turned to see a runaway bus mounting the pavement and demolish a signpost. Peter only had a splitsecond to avoid being hit by the bus.  
  
"Ump!" He grunted as he dived to the road, the bus passed inches from his boot and continued on the knock over a lamppost and smash into the corner of a store. The bus made an enormous crash that mingled with breaking glass and tearing metal as the driver's compartment was crushed and part of the ceiling and store front collapsed. Peter shook off broken glass from his shoulder and stared at the bus, there were people inside screaming to be let out. He moved towards the bus. Unknown to any of them, the bus's gas line had been torn on the shredded remains of the base of the lamppost, and a trail of gas spread towards the sparking wires dangling from the torn edge of the lamppost base. It took less than five seconds but seemed to happen in slow motion.  
  
"What the?" A giant spark erupted from the metal tree stump that had been the lamppost, blue and orage flames ignited and spread along the gas line. SOme of the passengers in the rear of the bus noticed and screamed louder, but it was too late. The fire had reached the bus and both bus and store were engulfed in a tremedious explosion. Peter shaded his eyes as the main blast threw seering glass in his direction, when he looked back at the bus there wasn't much that could be seen in the flames, apart from the slowly melting body of the now dead bus. 


	14. Matters at the Morgue

Chapter Fourteen  
  
Both Ray and Egon had heard the explosions, and were now staring out of the second floor windows. In the distance two columns of smoke could be seen rising into the evening sky over Uptown Raccoon. Ray gasped as a small explosion went off close to the RPD and a third column of smoke joined the othe two. Egon switched on the modified PKE meter. Ray we've got a problem." Ray moved over to see the display of the PKE meter.  
  
"By my calculations, the number of signatures has gone up by ten percent in the past two hours."  
  
"And this means?" Ray asked the vital question.  
  
"It means that these creatures are either moving to this area, spreading the disease on a large scale. Or both." The sounds of breaking glass and shouting caught their attention as a cop in a torn uniform climbed the stairs and joined them.  
  
"Dr. Spengler, Dr. Stantz. I've been sent to escort you two to a safer location."  
  
"Dr. Stantz and myself will remain here, we have to wait for our colleagues to return."  
  
"Dr. Spengler with all due respect, they'd be lucky if they were able to get through the courtyard alive." Egon and Ray exchanged a worried expression.  
  
"What do you mean?" Ray asked.  
  
"I mean that the Police Department is being attacked."  
  
"Attacked by what?" The cop glanced out of the window.  
  
"Them." Egon and Ray looked out of the window to see a blockade set up outside the main entrace. there were civilians crowding the entrance, but they were attacking the Police.  
  
"What are those people doing? attacking the Police won't solve anything."  
  
"That's just the thing Dr. Spengler, those people don't seem to be doing anything other than attacking my fellow officers. And that's not just all, they've managed to get down the side of the building and are coming through the windows near the Meeting Room, we've been able to control them, but they've killed five people." Ray looked out the window to the street beyond, he could see a couple of cops moving blue road barriers across the intersection of Ennerdale and Warren. A fountain erupted from a smashed fire hydrant. A large explosion erupted down the street from the blockade when several cars had piled up and the fuel line had ignited.  
  
"To sum it up Dr. Spengler, it's a war zone down there." The three men stared out of the windows as Raccoon City began to fall into chaos, as it began to burn.  
  
***  
  
It looked like a scene from George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead". And fankly, there was nothing to prove otherwise. Winston, Dr. Stern and the Guard had got up from the basement to find the hospital Waiting Room in several stages of chaos. He had soon found out that the trouble the guards had been having earlier was spreading.  
  
"Good God!" the guard exclaimed. A guard with a bloodsplattered uniform walked up to report the situation to Dr. Stern.  
  
"Dr. Stern, we've be inundated, we've had so many people coming in that they're having to do triage in the corridors, we've lost five doctors including Dr. Stromm. Most of the nurses are too afraid to go near the patients after one nurse had three of her fingers bitten off." Winston stared at the room more closely, there was blood everywhere and most of the waiting room furniture was disorganised. Either from being moved to perform triage or from people falling into them.  
  
"Evacuate the hospital, get as many healthy people out as possible, if you find anybody who isn't suffering from the virus then eveacuate them as well. The guard moved off into the chaos. Another doctor started to cross the room to speak to Dr. Stern.  
  
"Dr. Stern..." The doctor slipped in a puddle of blood and collapsed to the floor. A body covered in a sheet nearby garbbed at his ankle and started to sit up.  
  
"Aaagghh! get it off me, get it off me! The doctor scrambled and tried kicking the zombie's hand as it pulled the doctor's ankle closer. The doctor managed to land a blow on the back of the zombie's rotting hand, and the zombie's wrist made a sickening "Crack" as the bone broke. The doctor scrambled free as the zombie let out a moan of anger at having lost a meal.  
  
"Get out of here, find a safe place to hide. We're evacuating the hospital." The doctor vanished off in the direction of the main doors. Winston, Dr. Stern and the guard followed a few minutes later. As soon as they got outside they saw the doctor running wildly down the street past the park. A station-wagon turned the corner wildly and started to zig-zag across the street. The doctor tried to jump out of the way but was caught in the chest as the car's hood slammed into him.  
  
"Oh." he managed to gasp before the car, and his body slammed into the fence bordering the hospital. Winston turned to look along the street that ran parallel with the back of the park, a smashed Mini blocked the way. Even if it hadn't there was an overturned bus slowly burning further down the street. Taking the only clear route, Winston, Dr. Stern and the guard ran along a side-street that bordered the clock tower. Raccoon Station was coming into view as an explosion behind them threw them off track. Several cars had piled up outside the entrace to Raccoon Park. The way back was now blocked.  
  
"Comeon guys, if we can get to the cablecar station we can use the cable car to take us down City Hall, from there we can make it on foot to the RPD. His two companions agreed and they started to make their way through the streets towards the cablecar station.  
  
***  
  
He couldn't believe it, he had managed to make it to the main gate and had found out that he couldn't get in, he had watched the massacre as the cops tried to defend the Police Department, thankfully they'd stopped the zombies from entering the building, but had died in the effort. He had decided to try find another way in and so had climbed over the police blockade, and had dodged at leat half a dozen zombies to get onto the road behind the RPD.  
  
"Great, I know some survivalists in New York who'd pay to do this." He now stood atop a crashed RPD squad car and held onto a nearby lamppost to use as an lookout post. The street was emptyish, there was a small crowd of zombies near a set of stores on an intersection, but it looked like the gate was closer to him. Shielding his eyes from the squadcar's sirenlights he jumped down to the sidewalk and started running for the gate. The gate lead into a small loading are behind the Police Department, it turned out this was the entrance to the underground parking garage. This was obvious because there were a couple of black and white squadcars parked near the shutter.  
  
"Freeze!" Peter turned to see a man dressed in a cop's uniform.  
  
"Woah don't shoot, I'm one of the good guys!" The cop lowered his gun a little.  
  
"Are you injured?" The cop still had to be careful.  
  
"No."  
  
"Good, that means I don't have to shoot you." Peter walked over to the cop.  
  
"I'm Lt. Viota, I'm suprised you were able to make it this far without being bitten." The cop shook hands with Peter.  
  
"Peter Venkman, thanks for not shooting." The cop's expression turned to suprise.  
  
"Peter Venkman, as in Dr. Peter Venkman of the Ghostbusters?"  
  
"I see my reputation preceeds me." Lt. Viota and Peter started walking towards a maintenence shed that was a shortcut to the detectives' offices.  
  
"Wow, what are you doing in Raccoon?"  
  
"I was here with my partners investigation reports of monsters seen in the area. But soon things changed." Another explosion went off in the distance. The sky was now in the dying stages of evening.  
Those things are everywhere, do you know if Officer Spencer's charges are still alive?"  
  
"You mean those scientists he's with are from your team? the last I heard was that they were in the second floor corridor. But a man had been sent up to escort them to a safer part of the building." Climbing a set of stairs to a helipad, they started to work their way through the laberyth of corridors to the East Offices on the ground floor. Peter gave the back of Lt. Viota's head a puzzled look as the lieutenant started humming the theme tune from the Ghostbusters movie. They finally entered the main part of the offices a few minutes later as a group of officers and detectives chatted nervously. Lt. Viota walked over to a coffee machine.  
  
"Want a cup?" Lt. Viota asked Peter.  
  
"After the stuff I've seen I might need a few." Lt. Viota chuckled a little at Peter's joke and poured some coffee into a coffeecup with a picture of a Ingram '98 and the title "Patlabor" in large white letters. He then poured some coffee into a standard RPD cup with the station logo on the side and handed it to Peter.  
  
"Thanks." 


	15. The Cablecar

Chapter Fifthteen  
  
Egon and Ray stared down the corridor, the barricade was crude but effective. All of the windows along the corridor had been broken in the second wave of the attack and hastly boarded up. The flickering flourescent lighting gave the scene a unreal feeling. Officer Spencer stood a few feet away, gasping. His cap was gone, lost somewhere back in the confusion. The right sleeve of his shirt was torn, half of the cloth badge gone with it.  
  
"God, this is a nightmare." He suddenly realised Ray and Egon were present.  
  
"Oh, sorry Dr. Spengler. I'm sure you've dealt with stuff worse than this."  
  
"Only on a few occasions, and please, call me Egon."  
  
"Well Egon, Dr. Stantz we're in a real fix here."  
  
"Please Officer Spencer, call me Ray."  
  
"Well if we're gonna drop the fomality then you might as well call me John. Have you heard from your friends?" Ray's face changed to a look of dispare.  
  
"No, and the longer they're gone the more likely they are..." John and Egon silently agreed.  
  
"Ray..."cackle"...can you..."crack"...me..."fizz"..ov...r....." Ray grabbed at his radio.  
  
"Winston, can you hear me?"  
  
"A littl..."crack"...the trans..ition is..."fizz"...bad. I'm on..."cackle"...way."  
  
"How?"  
  
"The..."fizz"...Raccoo..."cackle"...cablec..."frazz"...gonna che..."cackle"...Ecto. See yo..."frazzle"...soon, over."  
  
"Right over and out." Ray switched off the radio.  
  
"What is it Ray?" John asked.  
  
"It's Winston, he's still alive! He's going to use the cablecar to get down here but he's going check out the Ecto."  
  
"Ecto?" John asked, Ray rolled his eyes.  
  
"Our car." Ray's happy expression suddenly darkened.  
  
"But we still haven't heard from Peter!" The Ghostbusters and the cop started moving in the direction of the staircase to   
the second floor.  
  
***  
  
The controls of the cablecar weren't complex, just a simple matter of starting the engine, and applying the breaks when needed.  
  
"All aboard!" The guard and Dr. Stern stumbled a little as the cablecar lurched forward. the further the cablecar moved into the heart of Raccoon, the worse the devestation became. Dr. Stern moved up to the front of the carriage to get a better view while the guard sat down to organise his thoughts.  
  
"My God." Dr. Stern muttered as he looked out of the glass, the town was darkened and not as many lights were on as there should have been, but that was made up by the amount of fire light that filled the street. The dancing flames made the shadows in the area change shape as they continued to burn. The metal chassis of cars and broken glass of windshields and storefronts sparkled in the unusual light.  
  
"I've lived in Raccoon for fifty years and I've never imagined anything like this happening." Dr. Stern took off his glasses to rub his forehead again.  
  
"I can't see anyone on the streets. That either means they've been evacuated, hidden indoors, or they never made it." The cablcar rumbled on down the street. It's single headlight illuminating a small portion of street ahead of it, the glare from the lamp reflected up from the rails. A limping form suddenly appeared in the bright glow. Winston, reacting more out of reflex then experienced slammed the break handle into the stop position, the cablecar slowed to a halt and the engine coughed to a stop. Sliding the door open Winston and the guard stepped off of the cablecar to inspect the woman who had appeared in front of the cablecar.  
  
"Excuse me, Ma'am. Are you okay?" All of the experienced Winston had learnt over the years was telling him to get back into the cablecar. The usually nervous guard suddenly had a bout of confidence.  
  
"It's okay madame, we're here to help you." The guard moved toward the woman.  
  
"No, get away from her!"  
  
"Why?" The guard turned back and came face-to-rotting face with the zombie.  
  
"Zom..zom..zom...." The zombie started to raise her hands to the guard's throat.  
  
"Zombie!" Winston rushed forward but was too late, once he'd reached the guard's shoulder, blood started to pour onto the road.  
  
"No!" Winston turned as he heard Dr. Stern begin to shout for Winston to get back in. Winston turned back to the guard who collapsed to the street, blood pouring out of his torn jugular. The guard's handgun was in it's holster. Winston judged whether or not to go for it. Deciding that they might need it he dealt the approaching zombie a blow in the gut, sending her to the asphalt. Unbuckled the strap on the holster and removed the gun. Winston then ran back over to the cablecar and released the break. Nothing happened. Winston glanced down to the starter button and pressed it. The engine coughed but didn't start up.  
  
"llll...look!" Dr. Stern pointed out at the street in front of them. The street was starting to fill with zombies who had been attracted by the sounds of the cablecar's engine.  
  
"This is not good." Winston pressed the starter button again, still nothing. The zombies were pounding on the door.  
  
"Comeon you son of a..." Winston thumped the control panel, suddenly the dials lit up and the engine spluttered into life.  
  
"We are out of here!" The cablecar lurched forward again. At first the zombies were up to keep up with the slow moving carriages, but as soon as the cablecar started to move downhill it picked up speed. By the time it had moved two blocks it had left the zombies behind.  
  
"I can't belive it, never even knew the guy's name." Dr. Stern put a hand on Winston's shoulder to reassure him.  
  
"It's not your fault Mr.Zeddmore, there was no way he could have known she was a zombie. It wouldn't have been humanly possible to get to him quicker." Winston sighed and the two men remained in silence for a long time.  
  
***  
  
Peter was in the Main Hall, he hadn't been able to find Egon or Ray yet and was getting worried. He sat at the empty reception desk and stared at the telephone. Something inside of him wanted to pick up the handset and call someone. Someone who could tell him it was a dream, some weird parody of his safe world that had been induced by a bad drink.  
  
"Penny for your thoughts?" Peter swivelled round in the desk chair.  
  
"I was just thinking."  
  
"Uh-huh, that's a good start." Lt. Viota sat down in another empty chair.  
  
"I was just thinking, if I used that phone over there. I could phone up someone who could tell me this was all a bad dream, a dream induced by too many drinks or maybe some bad food. Seems that human beings try their best to cling onto things that make sense, things that don't shatter that fragile piece of work that is their world."  
  
"I totally agree with you Dr. Venkman, I wish I'd stayed in bed, called in sick. But I drove my car to work, stepped through that door, and realisied that no matter how bad it gets out there, there would have to be someone around to make sure that some people survive. People who can continue on after the disaster. They mightn't be able to make it go away, but I'm sure that if you use that phone then there will be someone who can make surviving a little easier." Lt. Viota got up again.  
  
"It makes me wonder if it would be better for us to switch jobs." Lt. Viota chuckled again.  
  
"Sometimes you have to look at things like a physchiatrist just so you can deal with the things you see on the job. But if neither of us survives, I'd just like you to know it has been an honour to meet you Dr. Venkman." Lt. Viota and Peter shook hands.  
  
"You're welcome." Lt. Viota finished his coffee, pulled out his gun and readied it for action. He then walked off towards the East Offices.  
  
("Goodluck.") 


	16. Survivor at Stagla

Chapter Sixteen  
  
The cablecar slowed to a halt outside Central Station. The place had been nice once, but the recent changes the city had gone through had affected most fo the buildings in the center of town. Winston checked his watch, it read 8:50PM, he glanced up at the station clock. The cover was cracked and the hands indicated the time was 6:15PM. A loud bang erupted from the rear carriage, followed by a metal crash. Winston and Dr. Stern soon found out it was the motor. The oil had run out, a wire had melted and one of the fuses had blown.  
  
"Doesn't really matter, no-one will be needing it anymore." Winston took one last look at the elderly vehicle. Then he turned his attention to the task at hand, retrieving Ecto-1. Winston and Dr. Stern walked through a small park are that turned out to be "Lonsdale Yard." However the name didn't matter much to either man, as long as Winston's plan went right they wouldn't be staying long there. They soon found themselves walking through a cluster of buildings.  
  
"We're nearly there, these buildings are the Raccoon City Hall." Dr. Stern stood and looked around for a few moments before continuing on.  
  
"I'd only been here once before, but then the place seemed more alive." Winston faced Dr. Stern to explain the plan.  
  
"Right, when we came into Raccoon our car suffered some mechanicl problems and had to be taken to the Stagla Garage. I'm going to go up there and see if it's in good shape and if there's a clear route out of the garage. You can come with me and check out the gas station, or you could go to the RPD, however I'd recommend you come with me simply because there's safety in numbers."  
  
"Don't worry, I wouldn't walk around alone in the place if the Sixty-thousand Dollar Man was here." Winston and Dr. Stern moved North towards the gas station. Winston opened the gate and gasped at what he saw. He was actually amazed that the place hadn't gone up in flames yet. Winston moved towards the gas station, it looked normal except for the smashed up cars littered all over the place and the leaking gas. A bus was blocking the road entrace to the front of the garage, but the main shop's shutter wasn't down. Winston moved through the maze of smashed cars and entered the shop. The door made a happy jingle as the bell rang.  
  
"That bell is really out of place now." The lights in the mechanic's workshop were on so Winston and Dr. Stern entered the room. The mechanic stood a few feet away from them and next to the mechanic stood the fixed Ecto.  
  
"Hey you survived? Good, we'll take you with us when we leave." The mechanic didn't answer. Now that Winston thought about it, the mechanic's overalls were dirtier than usual. Something more than oil and grease was stained on the blue material. The mechanic turned to face Winston and Dr. Stern.  
  
"Oh my." Dr. Stern stiffled. The mechanic started to shuffled towards them, drool and blood falling from his mouth. Though his most noticable feature from becoming a zombie was the eyeball swinging from the optic nerve. Winston started to look around for a weapon, something that wouldn't ignite the spilt fuel. He suddenly remembered that he'd picked up the dead guard's gun.  
  
"Dr. Stern get ready to run."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because if the gun ignites the fuel then we won't have much time to get out." Winston raised the handgun, switched off the safety, and uttered a silent prayer. The zombie stumbled slowly towards Winston, Winston pulled the trigger and the room was filled with the loud bang as the bullet shot out of the barrel, hiting it's target between the eyes. The corpse stopped, moaned softly and collapsed to the floor. The ping of the metal casing sounding too loud. Nothing else happened, Winston looked around.  
  
"What happened?" Winston couldn't believe it.  
  
"The fuel didn't ignite? the fuel didn't ignite!"  
  
"But we're not out of the woods yet, we now have the car. But we have to find the guys, last time I radioed them they were at the RPD. That's where we're going next." Winston turned to go back into the gas station's shop, but stopped at the door when he heard paint cans being knocked over on the shelf.  
  
"Shhh, someone's here." Winston raised the gun and jumped through the doorway.  
  
"Woah! Hold you fire, I'm not one of them!" Winston stared at the woman.  
  
"Then don't act so suspiciously." Winston switched the safety back on.  
  
"Who are you anyway?" Winston sat down on the counter.  
  
"I'm Amy Weathers, I work at the Umbrella Sales Office."  
  
"There's no point telling me where you worked, as soon as I can find my friends we're all leaving Raccoon." Winston moved towards the door.  
  
"If you want to live then follow me." Winston dissapeared into the night, followed by Dr. Stern and Amy.  
  
***  
  
Peter was staring out of the second floor windows like he had been doing beore going to the bar, apart from the change of natural light there were a few other differences with the view now and then. The first was the large numbers of fires burning out of control, the second was the total lack of sounds of modern transport or human activities.  
  
"Peter!" Peter turned to a see Ray stood in the doorway leading in to the corridor.  
  
"Peter I'm glad to see you, we thought that you were still out there." He pointed out of the windows into the chaos below.  
  
"No, as soon as the place I was drinking was attacked I made my way here, but this building and this town are like a maze, most of the main roads have been blocked by roadblocks or wreckage."  
  
"Well, we'd better go find Egon just to let him know you're alive." Peter wore mock suprise.  
  
"Spengs missed me? Wow, I can't believe it. God bless us everyone!" Ray gave Peter a warning glance.  
  
"I'm suprised you knew that line after you spent so much time hating Christmas."  
  
"Ray for your information, I now love Christmas. I can't get enough of it, but if we're gonna live to see this Christmas then we need an escape plan."  
  
"And what have you thought up?"  
  
"Me? Winston should have been thinking it up, after all he's the one who does that kind of thing."  
  
"You made a plan to beat Nexa."  
  
"I was forced into that, I was the only one around to think of a plan." 


	17. Last broadcast from TRCN

Chapter Seventeen  
  
"Those poor bastards never had a chance." Winston glanced from the smashed fire truck to the body of the firefighter below, the yellow illuminous strips of the jacket stained orange by the blood. Winston then stared at the department badge, a cartoonish raccoon with a fire helmet and axe. The white letters "FDRC" were also stained red from a trail of blood dripping down the door. It had been a nasty crash, the engine had been going fast enough to knock a set off traffic lights off of the extended arm of a lamppost. Winston then moved off in the direction of a small strip mall that would take them to a resteraunt. From there they could pass through a building site, the Raccoon Post Office and then go through a set of alleyways to the RPD. It was easier said then done.  
  
"This is the plan, Dr. Stern has told me that we can go through several buildings and alleys and end up a block away from the RPD. Unless anyone has a better plan then we'll be following Dr. Stern. They entered the strip mall. All of the shops were closed and Winston wondered if there was any difference from when they were open.  
  
"Right here." Dr. Stern had reached a T-junction in the strip mall. The humming of a neon sign nearby was distracting, too loud in the dead city. Dr. Stern ezperienced some trouble in opening the glass door in front of them. Winston walked over to see what was happening.  
  
"What's the problem?"  
  
"The door's stuck, something is blocking it." Winston pushed his shoulder into the door's metal frame and put his strength into into forcing it open, something metal started to scrape the pavement as it moved. The door suddenly gave way as a metal bench was shoved aside.  
  
"That way should lead into a building site, and then onto a street leading to the Post Office. Dr. Stern pointed to a door that was partially covered in plastic with green tape. Dr. Stern moved the plastic and tape aside and pushed he door open. The inside was dark, whatever the building had been was lost when most of it's structure had been demolished to house a lareg lift shaft. Dr. Stern moved towards a turn in another T-junction. A map on the wall indicated where in Raccoon they were, they were only a few blocks away from the RPD. However the journey was most likely going to be longer depending on how many detours they were going to make. The door at the end of the short passage opened up onto a small section of empty road. Down the street was an abandoned pet shop, but on the other side of the road from that was the Post Office. The inside the post office seemed like a tomb, the concrete and asphalt creating a chill. The reassuring sound of car engines was devoid from the small parking lot as most of the vehicles would never be used again. The only other sound in the building apart from the three survivors was a sparking jump cable attached to a car engine. They exited the building through a service door next to the shutter, only to find a car wreck in front of them.  
  
"This is no good, the way's blocked." Amy turned back towards the office which they'd used to get into the Post Office.  
  
"Now hold on a minute, you haven't even taken a decent look yet." They walked out into the street and Dr. Stern pointed towards a gate between two storefronts.  
  
"See? if we'd listened to you then we would have missed that gate." Amy muttered angrily as they moved past a bus which must have been in a spectacular crash. The gate lead into a short passage.  
  
"There's another gate that should lead to Ennerdale Street, we can then go into the RPD using the main entrance."  
  
"Lead the way." They moved through the small, dark passages towards the RPD. Again Winston wondered how much of this passage had changed during the onslaught of the zombies. Dr. Stern reached a rusted door at the end of the passage and pushed it open. They all shielded their eyes from the heat and light of a massive fire burning away a few feet away. They moved onto Ennerdale Street and started to look around at the devistation.  
  
"Where are the zombies? I thought this place would be litterally crawling with them." They moved towards the Main Gate.  
  
***  
  
"This is Charles Brighton of TRCN, we will continue to broadcast as the events in Raccoon City unfold. Those of you who are just tuning in will most likely already know about the monsters that have taken over the town. TRCN advises you to barricate downstairs doors and windows and to arm yourselves." A muffled crash was heard over the Television's loudspeakers. Shouting was also heard.  
  
"What the?" The male newsreader stood up from the desk. Several station workers rushed by the camera.  
  
"No, oh God please no!" The camera fell to the floor and displayed a sideways view of a crowd of zombies moving towards the newsdesk. scream was heard as the screen turned to static. The screen then displayed a message in red lettering. The message read: "TRCN apologises for the break on transmition, we are suffering techinical difficulties. Please stand by."   
  
Peter stared at the phone, he hand't really noticed that it hadn't rang once since he'd got there. He decided he'd see if he could contact Janine, warn her that they might be late getting back to the Firehouse. The dial tone hummed as he dialled the number of the Firehouse.  
  
"I'm sorry but the number you've dialled cannot be reached, please try again later."  
  
"Hmph." Peter dialled the number of his old apartment.  
  
"I'm sorry but the number you've dialled cannot be reached, please try again later."  
  
"Hmmmmm." Peter dialled the number for the pizza resturant down the street from the Firehouse.  
  
"I'm sorry but the number you've....."Click!" Peter had slammed the phone down into it's cradle.  
  
"Some phone system!" Peter walked back to the Meeting Room, all the while the moans of zombies could be heard outside. He had reached the double doors when the main entrace doors opened.  
  
("Oh no, they're here!") But instead of a crowd of zombies stumbling through the door, Peter instead saw Winston, a man in a labcoat and a blond haired woman.  
  
"My God Winston you're okay!" Winston glanced over to see Peter approaching.  
  
"There were times out there if I would make it back, but we did."  
  
"Who are these people with you?"  
  
"This is Dr. Stern, we were in the Autopsy Room at the hospital when the town was overrun. This is Amy Weathers, she found us when we were checking Ecto at the garage."  
  
"How is Ecto?"  
  
"She's fine, she'll run and I'm sure there's a clear route out of town."  
  
"I could have used you in an argument I was having with Ray earlier, but I'm glad to know you're safe. We need to go get the mad scientists and Officer Spencer and tell them your plan. Last time I checked they were in the Meeting Room so follow me." They moved off through the corridors of the West Wing of the RPD. 


	18. Evacuation Preceedure

Chapter Eighteen  
  
They were all in the Meeting Room. Four Ghostbusters, Three civilians and two cops. The third civilian had been hiding inside the RPD and was to be evacuated along with the Ghostbusters.  
  
"Right Ladies and Gentlemen. This is the plan. My colleague Mr. Zeddemore tells me that our car is road worthy and that there is a realitively clear route out of Raccoon City. We will be using the passages to get to City Hall where we can then get to the gas station. Are there any questions before we make final preparations and then leave?" The civilian who had turned up a few minutes befire the meeting raised his hand.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"What happens if those things come after us? we'll be slaughtered!" A few shocked gasps emerged from the survivors.  
  
"That is why we'll be having Officers Spencer and Maluci escorting us to the gas station." The woman, Amy Weathers raised her hand.  
  
"Yes Miss?"  
  
"How many seats doe this car have? It can't possibly fit all of us."  
  
"Iur car is a old ambulance, normally it can seat at least seven people, however there should be room for all of us." The meeting ended and final preparations were started.  
  
"There should be room for all of us?" Ray asked sarcastically. Peter's responce was a nervous grin and shrugging his shoulders.  
  
***  
  
He'd been running for what felt like hours, he couldn't let it catch him. He may have betrayed his team-mates in the past, but he had to warn her. Even though it was night his yellow flak-jacket stood out too well. Even the S.T.A.R.S. badge on his left sleeve was visable because of the yellow stars that made up the logo. He had been running through the streets since his apartment had been attacked by the zombies, but after the thing he was running from the zombies weren't as scary, and it was tracking him.  
Brad stumbled across an empty street, just like so many other streets. He had soon lost his way, disorientated by the blocked roads and the wreckage. He turned a corner onto a street with cablecar rails running along it, he turned his head when he heard a metal loading noise.  
  
"Oh no, oh God please no." He deserved it, the nickname. Afterall nothing suited him better than "Chickenheart". Brad "Chickenheart" Vickers, who had abandonned his team at the Spencer Estate, who had remained here while Chris, Barry, Rebecca had left for Europe to take on Umbrella. Sure Jill was still here but she was no coward, there was no way she could possibly decend to his level or that he could reddeem himself to her level. She was a professional, a trained member. All he was good for was piloting a helicopter and computer work. But maybe he could at least show some bravery in trying to save Jill. Even if he died at least he'd had the chance to save her life.  
  
"S.T.A.R.S!" The chilling rendition of the team's name rang out from the creature's mouth behind him. Brad could hear it's thimping footsteps as it chased him through Raccoon, a rocket launcher equiped monster. No matter what happened to him he had to warn Jill. He hurried on, through the burning wreckage that had been Raccoon City. 


	19. Last Stand

Chapter Nineteen  
  
The final preparations were made and they were good to go, they were only waiting for Winston, Officer Spencer and Officer Malluchi to load their guns and equip themselves with extra clips. Peter walked up the small staircase in front of the doors to greet the crowd. He raised his hands for silence.  
  
"Alright people, as soon as the officers have loaded up their guns and clips we're going to leave. We're going to be running for most of the journey and it will be over a long distance, I strongly recommend that you keep up and if you see anyone who looks like they need medical attention then you should leave them, it will be most likely that they are either suffering from the virus or that they've already turned into one of those zombies out there. If there is anyone present who wants to stay here then please move over to the fountain behind you." No-one moved.  
  
"Alright. Winston, are you guys ready?"  
  
"As much as we'll ever be."  
  
"Right, let's move out people." Peter opened the doors and stepped out into the cold, dead night. The smell of smoke and the sound of fire was everywhere. The Main Gate creaked on it's rusty hinges as Peter opened it using the ring-shaped handle. The slushing of water told them that the ruptured fire hydrant was still spilling out into the street. Peter and Dr. Stern lead he way. Amy and Winston followed. Then Egon, Ray and the newest survivor. Officer Spencer and Officer Malluchi guarded the rear of the group. They had already made their way through the first passage way and were nearing the bus by the Post Office. The footsteps of the group echoed through the Post Office parking lot. The group was exiting the parking lot office when Officer Malluchi and Amy heard a noise.  
  
"Grrrrr."  
  
"What's that?" Peter turned and faced Amy.  
  
"Something wrong?"  
  
"I thought I heard something."  
  
"So did I." A click announced that Officer Spencer's gun was ready to be fired. The group stirred uneasily when a howl cried through the night.  
  
"What is that?" Officer Malluchi's gun clicked as well.  
  
"Get ready to run." Peter opened the door and started moving people through into the construction area. Two more howls cried out. Then a shot from Malluchi's gun.  
  
"Dammit!" Officer Malluchi fired three shots into the dog. It whinned in pain as the metal pierced it's rotted flesh. It fell onto the pavement. Officer Malluchi and peter walked up to the carcass to get a better look at the Hellhound.  
  
"What happened to it?" Officer Malluchi asked, gaging as a foul smell deifted up from the diseased dog.  
  
"The thing 's flesh is hanging off it like it was melted."   
  
"Run!" The civilans started to run through the building following Winston and Dr. Stern. Officer Malluchi fired two more shots into a second dog. It pounced onto Officer Malluchi.  
  
"Aggg." Both cop and dog collapsed onto the pavement. Officer Spencer tired to find a angle which he wouldn't hit his fellow officer. He realised it was too late when he heard a meaty, tearing sound.  
  
"Aaaaagggggg!" Officer Malluchi's body became still as the blood poured out of his jugular. Officer Spencer fired three shots into the second dog and it became still.  
  
"Comeon" Peter shouted at Officer Spncer, they jogged up to the building and pulled the door closed as two more dogs tried to break through the metal door.  
  
"Shit! What are those things?" Amy nearly shreiked.  
  
"They...those things were dogs." The group continued their journey, quicker than before. They hadn't sustained any more trouble until they reached the road outside the City Hall. The survivor who had joined the group last was at the back of the group. Most of them had entered the grounds of City Hall when he was passing the jewelled clock that operated the gates.  
  
"What the?" He turned to see a claw flying at him.  
  
"No! Someone kil......" His sentence ended when the creature's claw sliced through his neck, decapitating him. A small fountain erupted from the stub of his neck and he slowly collapsed to he knees.  
  
"Oh my God!" Amy screamed. The monster's claw swipped at her and Officer Spencer, however it missed her neck and collided with the clock dial. The glass cracked, shattered and sparked as two components needed to open the gate were sliced off of the dial. The gates rumbled closed.  
  
"What..what happened?" Ray asked.  
  
"That thing, it must have smashed the gate controls. The gates won't open as long as that clock dial is broken." The creature let out an unearthly howl and leapt over the gate.  
  
"Oh God, that thing's hunting us!" Officer Spencer and Peter dropped behind the group and grabbed onto the gate leading to the gas station.  
  
"Okay, we're only going to have one chance at this. One...two..." The Hunter roared and charged the gate like a bull.  
  
"Three!" Peter and Officer Stern rammed the gate into the creature as it reached the gate. Thankfully enough the gate connected with the Hunter's head and temporarily dazed the creature.  
  
"Run!" Officer Spencer and Peter sprinted from the gate towards the gas station. Most of the group could bee seen inside the station shop. Ray suddenly gasped and started pointing wildly behind them. Peter turned his head as he passed a wrecked DeLorean ans saw that the Hunter was easily narrowing the distance between them. Peter switched on his proton pack and fied his gun at the Hunter. The Hunter let out a hurt howl as the beam of protons hit it. Peter slowly backed towards the door of the gas station as Officer Spencer fired his gun. The clip fell to the pavement empty and he started to pull out another clip.  
  
"Get inside!" Officer Spencer nodded to Peter and stepped into the shop. Peter was fast running out of options. The creature was nearing him slower than before, but it was now only a few feet away. Peter was now inside the door of the gas station and looked around for anything he could use to stop the Hunter. His gaze settled on a red handle marked "Shutter release."  
  
"Alright ugly, see if you can get through this as easy as that guy's neck." Peter shut off the beam and slammed the shutter release. The Hunter seemed to gain speed but wasn't fast enough to get in before the metal shutter slammed down, covering the door. The group watched the monster claw vainly at the shutter and then roar in annoyance. The creature stared at them with it's beady black eyes, and then move off back towards the City Hall.  
  
"That was too close." Peter breathed a sigh of relief. 


	20. Winston's Plan

Chapter Twenty  
  
They had a problem, the metal shutter that allowed vehicles through the rear entrance of the garage was closed. However that wasn't the problem, all they had to do was pull the chain to open it and they could leave. The problem was that the street outside was now filling with zombies, the locking mechanism on the shutter was broken so it wouldn't stay open and as soon as the shutter was open the zombies would be able to enter the garage. Winston looked around the small room for an idea while the rest of the group was sitting around in the shop.  
  
"Ray I've got an idea." Ray walked over from the parts rack.  
  
"I know how we can get out of here." Ray frowned.  
  
"But the shutter's locking mechanism is broken, it won't stay open on it's own."  
  
"It doesn't matter, if my plan works we'll be able to hold it open without someone staying behind."  
  
"How?"  
  
"It requires a long length of wire, Ecto's roof-rack and some excellent timing.  
  
It had taken Winston only five minutes to find the parts he needed and to finish the plan. He had dismantled part of the shutter's opening mechanism so that he could attack a length of high tension wire onto the end of the chain that would open the gate. Ray then climbed onto the roof of Ecto-1 and helped thread the wire under the rear sirenlight, over and under a series of cross beams that made up the upper equipment box, fed it under the front siren light. He then pulled it over to the driver's door. The wire only had a few centimeters left for which Winston to hold onto it. Ray and Winston walked back into the gas station shop to explain the plan to the rest of the group.  
  
"Dr. Stantz an myself have devised a plan that would allow us to have the shutter open for us to leave and leave no-one behind. It involves me starting the engine, pulling the chain to open the gate, and then accelerating the car fast enough so that we can leave the garage before the shuttler slams back down. There is the possibility that it won't work, but we have no other choice. If you would please follow us and get into the car, we'll try out our plan."  
  
***  
  
Five minutes after the plan had been told the group had finished climbing into Ecto-1. Winston and Ray sat in the front, Egon and Peter behind. And the rest of the survivors in the rear section of the car.  
  
"Alright people, brace yourselves." Winston started the engine. The view in front of them changed to black as Winston raised the shutter. He wound up his window until it was a couple of centimeters from being closed so he could release the shutter. The shutter stopped on it's ceiling track at the other end of the garage. A group of zombies that had been wandering about looked at the car.  
  
"This better work." Winston switched on the lights, the zombies in front of them stumbled back as the onslaught of light flashed on in front of them. Winston slammed his hand down on the horn to further disorientate the zombies. Ray counted down on his watch, a map of Raccoon restes on the dashboard beside him.  
  
"Now Winston!" The car shot forward as Winston released his boot from the break, as the radiator grille passed through the opening the wire slid out of the window. The shutter made a "Chunk" noise as the chain began to move backwards into the machine. The forn driver's door had reached the exit. The wire whipped unbder the rear sirenlight. The shutter started to move slowly back towards the exit. The rear passenger door had passed through the exit. The shutter was getting closer to the exit. The large windows at the rear of the car were passing through the exit. The shutter was now rolling onto the part of the rack that curved down to cover the exit. The rear siren lights were passing through the exit. The shutter started covering the exit. The rear door passed through the exit. The shutter now gathered speed as gravity took control. The edges of the fins and the pointed taillights reached the exit. The tail fins passed through the exit. The shutter slammed down and the crash of glass and mangling of metal was heard seconds before the shutter slammed down onto the grove that it rested in on the garage floor.  
  
"What was that!? Is everybody okay?" Winston asked as he directed Ecto-1 down the zombie filled street.  
  
"We're okay, but the shutter mangled the tail fins and taillights." Winston scowled.  
  
"Damn." A zombie was sent flying after being clipped by Ecto's bonnet. 


	21. Last stop before safety

Chapter Twenty-one  
  
Ecto was idling outside the Arklay Inn as Winston waited for Peter and Ray to return with the equipment and luggage.  
  
"What's taking so long?" He sighed with relief when he saw Peter and Ray approaching with the final two suitcases. The suitcases and equipment were stored in a free space in rear part of the car so not to crowd the survivors. Once the rear door had been closed Winston prepared to leave. Ray opened his door and sat in the passenger seat while Peter took his seat behind Winston.  
  
"Got everything? Because if we don't we're not coming back to get it."  
  
"Don't worry everthing's in the car."  
  
"Good." He turned to address the occupants of the car.  
  
"Alight people, we are now about to leave Raccoon City. Hopefully we'll be able to forget this nightmare someday." Winston turned around and pulled Ecto out of the hotel's parking lot. The cabin drakened as he turned off the ceiling lights and oulled out onto the dark highway.  
  
"Next stop....anywhere other than Raccoon City." The highway stretched off into the distance ahead of them. He glanced into the mirrorr attached to his door and saw the lights of Raccoon dissapaering behind them.  
  
"Thanks for saving us." Officer Spencer said from the rear seat. Dr. Stern was rubbing his forehead as usual. Ray sat back and closed his eyes, none of them had had any sleep since the morning and he found out how late it was by glancing at the dashboard clock. It was 1:00AM. The journey back to New York, and a safe place had begun. 


	22. Epilogue

Epilogue  
  
He was late, late for his first day on the job. And it was extremely late in the evening. The jeep was nearly breaking the limit as he tried to get to town in time for his first shift. The highway was unusually empty even for this time of night. The only other vehicle was a large white car going in the opposite dircetion. As it neared he could make it out more. It looked like a cadillac Ambulance, painted white with red trimming and a odd assortment of equipment and lights on the roof. He recognised a logo on the side of the car.  
  
"I wonder what they're doing here?" He smiled to himself and as quickly as it had approached the Ecto-1 dissapeared into the shadowy highway behind him. A blue highway sign lit up in the jeep's headlights. The sign read "Raccoon City 20 Miles."  
  
("Well Raccoon City, soon you'll be seeing how good a cop Leon Kennedy can be.") He smiled to himself and switched on the radio.  
  
"...and authorities are still baffled to the lack of contact with the town. Now here's a song from the upcoming band: Wild Dogs." The jeep rode on. 


End file.
